Win a golden spade!

A few weeks ago we undertook a daring raid – born from jealousy, greed and an overwhelming desire to acquire new trinkets to adorn our allotment shed. It took us into the very heart of darkness, to one of the most menacing, wildest, most uncharted parts of the UK.

Shaftesbury, to be exact. Just off the A350.

Our contacts have long whispered sagely of Niwaki, mythical procurers of the finest handcrafted garden tools from Japan. Monty owns a Niwaki Hori-Hori, Klein owns a pair of Niwaki secateurs – and we too were determined to get our soily mitts on something shiny, steely and special. A quick google search pointed us south, to the badlands of Dorset. To the lair of Niwaki.

Under the sinister shroud of a reaper-black Shaftesbury evening, we located (and jemmied our way into) Niwaki’s Temple of Tools. After rummaged around in a few boxes and banging our heads on some low-lying shelving, our flashlights fell upon a glistening prize. We snatched it and made swift our exit*.

Once home, within the safe confines of the brewing shed, we unwrapped and stared at our prize. What we’d stolen was of the finest quality, its shimmering beauty seemingly unburdened by normal garden tool convention – light, yet strong, sharp… elegant… seductive. But as we basked in its golden glow, waves of regret began to wash over us – this beautiful steel jewel was not ours to hold. We had liberated it unlawfully and this was wrong. We had done a Bad Thing.

Surely it would only be a matter of time before Niwaki henchmen would track us down and deal out the kind of tooled-up, rough justice we’d rightly deserve?

So to unburden ourselves of guilt, we made a solemn pledge to do what any nefarious, light-fingered rogue would do to launder their ill-gotten gains.

We’d run an Instagram photo competition to get shot of it.

HOW TO WIN

To stand a chance of winning our golden** spade (and to help us avoid the mother of all beatings), follow these simple steps:

Step 1: Select your favourite gardening tool.

Step 2: Take a picture of yourself brandishing said tool. (see below for examples)

Step 4: Post it on your Instagram feed, with the hashtag #questforthegoldenspade

The closing date for this is 12pm, June 11th. Pronto. No entries after this time will be considered. On June 12th we’ll sit down with Niwaki (after firstly apologising profusely for robbing the spade) and pick our favourite. The winner will be notified via our social media channels and published (along with all entries) on this website.

Good luck, may the best picture win, and remember….

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.– Confucius –

Left and middle: Two tools holding their favourite gardening implements. Right: Niwaki Jake and his beloved Japanese secateurs.

Terms and conditions: Entries must be submitted by 12pm Saturday 11th June 2016. The winner will be selected from all entries fulfilling the criteria as stated above, and by the closing date. The decision of the judges is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Should the Promoter be unable to contact the winners or should the winners be unable to accept the prize, the Promoter reserves the right to award the prize to an alternative winner, drawn in accordance with these terms and conditions. Two Thirsty Gardeners are responsible for the first part of the promotion, which is the publication and adjudication of the competition. All other facilities connected with the provision of the prize are the responsibility of Niwaki.

*It was bit like that scene in Jason and the Argonauts, but without the giant bronze colossus chasing us, just a couple of elderly security guards. We managed to evade them, making good our escape in the Thirsty Wagon, squeezing every ounce of power from its muscular (yet economical) 1.3 litre engine.

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